LAS VEGAS –For people with diabetes, self-management is crucial to staying well and keeping the disease in check. The Southern Nevada Health District offers a free, online diabetes self-management program called Care4life, which can be accessed online or via mobile phones. The program is designed for people with Type 2 diabetes as a tool to help them better manage their diabetes and offers education, recipes and nutrition tips, and physical activity information as well as tools to set reminders to check your blood glucose levels or for medical appointments. Care4life can be used to set weight and exercise goals. The program is available in English and Spanish and can be found on the www.GetHealthyClarkCounty.org website or in Spanish at www.VivaSaludable.org

According the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) CDC 2014 Diabetes Report Card, just 53.8 percent of Nevada adults diagnosed with diabetes have taken self-management classes. Diabetes is one of the most prevalent diseases in the United States with approximately 9.3 percent of the population impacted. That translates to about 29.1 million Americans who have diabetes with 8.1 million of them undiagnosed, according to the American Diabetes Association (2014). In Nevada, 9.6 percent of adults have diabetes, according to the Nevada Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease Report (2015).

Diabetes self-management is considered a key element to avoid diabetes-related complications. Without appropriate diagnosis, treatment, and self-management, diabetes is among the leading causes of blindness, kidney failure, heart disease and stroke. According to the Nevada Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease Report 2015 issued by Sanofi Aventis and partners, more than one in four (27.3 percent) Type 2 diabetes patients in Nevada were diagnosed with more than two complications from their disease in 2014, higher than the national average (21.4 percent). These patients are also more likely to be diagnosed with cardiovascular disease, nerve and/or kidney damage.

In addition to Care4life, the Southern Nevada Health District offers several free, online programs that can help with nutritional choices and physical activity for everyone, including people with diabetes. Online programs include the Road to Diabetes Prevention, Nutrition Challenge and Walk Around Nevada. Check our websites for a listing of other diabetes prevention and self-management resources available in our community.

Additional diabetes facts and statistics are available in the 2014 National Diabetes Statistics Report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.